Re: (RP) CD – When All is Lost.
Writers :
CharlotteCarrendar
KingFalthosHellbore
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KingFalthosHellbore: The battle raged with an unbridled fury. The very earth trembled beneath the guns of the Krieg. Behind miles of razor-wire and mine laden expanses of no-mans land, stood gun-nests that stared out across the fog that rolled across the battle-field. Infantry, armed with either their las-rifles or trench-shotguns, moved almost casually amongst the lines. Hydra flak-cannons scanned the air, seeking targets to shoot down with such fury that it would pepper the sky in darkness. Constantine stood to the open air, the skulled visage of the Krieg General glared almost ominously across his lines. He had made sure to errect rockrete fortifications, almost maze-like in their design, to confuse the enemy and to discourage a land assault, for fear of great casualties that would most certainly give them the advantage. He stared out a moment, before his rasping voice thrummed from the vox-unit in his mask “Its quiet. Almost too quiet. It appears we have the advantage, they have allowed us to dig in and fortify. A mistake, that will cost them dearly. What do our squadrons report?”
The box officer next to him chimed in almost in sync “No movement. Seemingly an evacuation from Lorewall. Civilian’s mostly.”
Constantine raised his head a moment as if in sudden realization, only to be replaced in deep thought “Evacuation. Why…What do they have…They are abandoning their entire city…For what purpose? Is their fear so great they would rather flee? No…No…Something is amiss. I smell treachery…”
-Frontlines-
The Sturmfeuer would skulk across the ranks of conscripts, like a stalking vulture awaiting for the moment that they decide to retreat or die, to go and do his duties. His crimson colored lenses stared out through the mist, his tattered robes fluttered to the wind, a silent statue, a guardian of war and death. He, alone, executed thirteen conscripts, on charges of cowardice and means to desert ones post. He took the rigged explosives from them, handing the burden equally to the rest.
-Command Center-
Officers scurried about, moving between panel to panel of communication screens, arrays, scans, stratagem feeds, stellar pict-feeds from the fleet, and above all, perimeter defense arrays. A siren began to ring out, blaring red lenses flared angrily as a drone resonated across the rockrete bunker. Many of the officers stopped, staring up at the screen. A lieutenant came into view, his grim scarred features gnarled into a permanent feature of anger and hatred, disgust and revulsion. His voice growled out “On screen.” What came into view was the face of a pilots feed, snapping a shot of what appeared to be a rather primitive craft, floating towards the Kriegers lines.
“Are our cannons in range?”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Any known ordinance carried upon the vessel?”
“No Sir!”
“Life signs?”
“One, Sir!”
“Only one?!” at the mention of this he turned to regard with cold steel eyes towards the officer that spoke to him.
“Yes Sir! One confirmed life form, origin, unknown. The Auspex is unable to detect Human or Xenos.”
“Are you sure? Be damned sure. Because if not, I will sprawl your innards across the command bunker and have the tech-priests make sure you are alive, writhing in pain for one standard terran year. Now, Are you sure?”
“I would stake my life on it in the name and service of the Emperor of Mankind.”
With a grim nod he would speak once more “Alert the General. Tell him he may have a visitor.”
-Topside, near the Bunker-
“This is Constantine.”
“Sir, we have sightings of a primitive vessel, one confirmed life-sign, origin unknown, auspex readings are off the charts. Hydra cannons are on Stand-by. Awaiting your orders, General.”
He stared upward, instinctively moving his hand to adjust his power claws a moment before he said “Brave, or Foolish. We will find out soon enough. Give the being permission to land, on my location.”
“As you command, so shall it be, General.”
“Constantine out.”
His communications officer turned towards him, almost questioningly. He did not even have to look towards him as he answered the unasked question.
“I do not know. However I doubt the enemy is stupid enough to try this petty suicide. They are smarter than that. This, is merely a delegation. The least I can do is hear the words spoken. And maybe then, I will be entertained.”
A communication was sent in the direction of the craft. “Unidentified Craft, you have clearance to land at these coordinates. Be warned, you were dead when you entered our sights. Make the best of your life.”
<E>
No mans land – North Lorewall
CharlotteCarrendar: – Captain Amelia’s boots hit the broken earth with a dull thud as she released the rope ladder that she had used to alight from her vessel. The clockwork droids up on the main deck reeled in the ladder and it soon vanished from sight. Adjusting her hat so it sat on a jaunty angle, Amelia surveyed her surrounds. It was far worse than she had imagined. Black earth, tumbling clouds of smoke and ash. The air was ripe with the scent of death. Charred and disfigured bodies littered the ground along with that of many a horse. Tanks that were blazing wrecks and towers that were nothing more than broken and bent shards of metal. Amelia’s face crumpled at what she saw. Was she too late?
It was clear that the war had taken many lives on both sides. Starting to walk northward, her boots would crunch down over the bones of the deceased. Some had been blown beyond recognition, fire having eaten away at their flesh. After walking a few more paces, she spotted a burnt cloth that was still fluttering from the ground. Crouching slightly she tried to pick it up. It was a Neumauen flag, half of it having been burnt. She smoothed the fabric with her hand and then raised it in the air, before letting the wind catch it. As though an unseen hand took it, the remnant simply floated off into the air. A symbol perhaps.
A buzzing sound came from Amelia’s wrist, and she flicked on the comms. “Incoming…”
“Unidentified Craft, you have clearance to land at these coordinates. Be warned, you were dead when you entered our sights. Make the best of your life.”
Amelia’s head was bowed as she heard the communication. The voice was unmistakable. Lifting her chin ever slightly, Amelia responded.
“What is life? What is death? All I know is that time is eternal. I wish only a brief few moments of your time, Constantine.” Yes, she said his name. Her voice had a certain British sound to it. She kept walking as she lowered her arm, and no doubt she believed he could still hear her.
“You think the enemy is on the ground. I hate to say this, but what you are about to face is far greater than anything the Emperor has come up against before. Not Xenos, nor demon. I come with a warning, one I hope you will heed.”
She then stopped in the middle of the field of death. Dressed like that of a Fifteenth century pirate maiden. Tall knee high boots, and a fancy frilly bustier and petticoat, covered by a crushed velvet coat. Curly red hair sat upon her shoulders. She wore twin steam punk styled revolvers, and in her hand…a simple looking metallic screw driver.
<3>
KingFalthosHellbore: – As the craft came to land, his eyes had stared hard and long at the primitive vessel that he had allowed to live. His boots crunched beneath the earth, indiscriminately stepping onto the bones of the dead. He halted short. His six foot, broad muscled features were seen beneath the armor he wore, as well as the gothic regalia he wore. What she would find lacking, would be medals, perhaps a laurel to distinguish rank and office, but no commendations, nor medals, awards, nothing. Stripped as if almost bare of anything more than rank. His hands remained at his sides, the metal gauntlets thrummed with power, as if waiting to unleash the power-wreathed talons that remained dormant in their casings. His voice resonated first with a click, signalling that he was to speak.
“You are brave, to come here. Life is in the service to the Emperor, and only in Death, does Duty End. We have seen the enemy, and we remain vigilant. I will hear you out, merely for humor of your brave decision. You clearly have not come to fight me, therefore I have the right to not execute you were you stand.” he turned his head, with a nod, letting his retinue know to withdraw a respective distance. As they withdrew silently, their eyes never leaving the stranger, they vanished into the fog. He turned his head back to regard the woman.
“What, Great enemy, seeks its Death this day? And being as you seem to know quite a lot about what we have faced, then prey tell, What exactly is more fearsome, then the Demonic, or the Xenos that corrupt this soil?”
<E>
CharlotteCarrendar: – Watching with eyes the purest shade of green, the man she had traveled across the spanses of time appeared before her, his own boots breaking the very bones of the dead just as she had done. This was no man’s land. It was a place where the leaders of sides could discuss the battle plans, but this was not about the battle for a nation, but rather….for the very universe itself. Of course, Captain Amelia bore no medals, or ribbons of honor. She had not ever taken anything from the worlds she had visited but knowledge. She regarded the oncoming figure of Constantine with a somewhat gentle expression. While he was intimidating, with both size and the ever present hum of his metal gauntlets, Amelia kept her own feeling buried, for this was not about her.
“Be it bravery or sheer stupidity, it is my duty as a time lord to warn the unsuspecting when danger has reached a point that is obviously beyond their level of understanding.” She was not trying to belittle the Commander, but more or less exercise her point of standing in such a precarious position. Listening to the man speak of what possible great enemy could be far greater than the demonic or Xenos, the Captain merely raised her arm and pointed with her finger to a large black halo image in the sky.
“I understand that you have a war to win, Constantine, but what if I were to tell you, the war was lost far before you had even begun.” If he had seen the tear for himself, be that this may have been the first time he took notice, he might take the Captain more seriously.
“I have been to this same planet many hundreds of times, Constantine. This planet or what you are experiencing now, is actually not at all what it seems. The very same planet exists on another plane of existence that is not suffering war…or the threat of invasion. A tear in time, my friend. There is a man…or rather one that seeks to destroy…all of time. That tear…is the beginning of the end of your universe.”
Amelia stared at the Commander, and waited for his reaction. Would he believe her?
<3>
KingFalthosHellbore: – He heard her speach. Granted, his stoic expression that lingered behind his mask, unamused and unimpressed would simply stare, as if a machine to the same monotonous task repeated time and time again. He would move to remove his mask, the skulled visage falling from his pale features, as duel-scarred and yet as stoney as they appeared, his features were hardly a grim expression. His blue-ish grey eyes, almost as mirthless as the surface of the planet he hailed from, stared to her. He would begin to walk closer, almost coming within arms reach with her. His voice uttered out in, what a primal, unbridled force would speak as, like that as if the very elements themselves communicated through his voice “Look around you. War, is Everywhere. You speak of separate planes, alternate universes. Madness. However. I am not in a position to not believe ones madness. I have fought, and killed both enemy and kin. Do you know, the debt we all carry from birth? We owe the Emperor a blood debt. You dare come to me, to tell me there is a greater enemy than those that betrayed us millenia ago? You come to my doorstep, proclaiming apocalyptic madness, and expect me to believe it?”
He stared long and hard into her eyes, as if a predator seeking its prey. He then would say “Who are you? And what Enemy do you speak of. What man, is capable of such power and why hasn’t he been destroyed?”
<E>
CharlotteCarrendar: – The Captain approached the Commander, with her head held high. She had lived a long time, met with all manners of men, leaders, Gods, or those who proclaimed to be…and had even met the Emperor himself. Amelia listened to the Commander speak at her as though she was being disrespectful, even though she truly wasn’t. When he had asked her the question she knew was coming, she then stopped bare inches from his face.
“I am Captain Amelia Fairweather. I am…a Time lord. I existed long before you, and will so, long after you are gone. Even the Emperor knows my name, as I do yours.” She stared him down, no trace of humor or even emotion on her face. He would see her for exactly what she was; a guardian of time.
“The man I speak of is known simply as the Master. He has been to the other planet that carries this name, and he seeks to bring about its end. Why? Because he is the corrupt. He has no leader, nor does he care for the whims of any people or government. He seeks to watch worlds burn, regardless of who is responsible.”
Pointing up at the tear, which in behind had nothing but a sheer black discolouration, the Captain then looked back at Constantine. “That is what he has been waiting for. The rift has been opened, and it is getting bigger. While you wage war in the Emperor’s name, the Master is waging war on you all!” The last part was said with an almost impassioned plea. Amelia’s face became grim. “I came simply to make you open your eyes, Constantine.”
<3>
KingFalthosHellbore: – With her last words he turned on heel and began to walk away. He had heard enough of her prattle to last him a life-time. However, he stopped. Almost as if ordered to a halt. He turned his head slightly back to regard her “You met with the Emperor…” he said, his voice, for a moment, softened. His head bowed slightly, however, not so much as to regard reservation. “Tell me then, Amelia. Do you think, that he could forgive my kin, for their misdeeds, during the Heresy?…Do you think, that were he here, standing with us, to lead us into battle..Do you think, he would smile upon us?” His question was personal, however, He turned more to regard her “We have fought. Endured for thousands of years, by Faith alone. The only thing we seek, is to die in his name. To repay the blood debt we owe, to use our lives in Service to Him Enthroned on Earth. You came here, to open my eyes. Tell me then, Captain..Why do you call upon his Sons?” He would stare at her, as if they were the only to people here on this planet. His stature still stood strong, but rather, he felt humbled, almost touched by the mere thought of this being, this woman, whether her words proven blasphemous or truth, told him of the Emperor.
“We came to liberate this planet. Called upon by the Scourge Eagles to serve in glorious battle, to free this planet from its Demonic taint and to restore balance and order. This, Master you speak of. He is a threat if what you say is true. If a power like this is to be taken down, then through unity it will have to be brought. As much as I loathe this, and as much as my very blood seems to revolt against what my very soul tells me to do, I will stand down and unite against this Master. And I will be ready, with his death in my hands.”
<E>
For this piece:
CharlotteCarrendar: – At first Amelia was dissapointed to see Constatine turn away from her. Had her words all been for naught? But as she was about to just let him walk back to his units, he stopped. Her brow creased as he looked over his shoulder. A second thought perhaps. “You met the Emperor..” Amelia nodded twice, and her face remained unmoved. Was he now beginning to understand that she was far older than she looked. Few are granted audience with someone like the Emperor. Constantine then had a series of question, his curiosity had been heightened now. This was a moment in his life he may well not forget. She listened. Like a child, he opened up to her in the way that was almost endearing. Genuine about what she knew, what she felt the Emperor would feel about his Krieg, his children. In effect that is exactly what they were. They lived their lives to die for him, to fufill the blood oath, and to be of service to see the Emperor’s right to rule live on through the ages.
“You ask me why I call upon you, Constantine. It is simple. You are a son of the Emperor. If there is anyone on this earth that can fight against a true evil than it is you all. While the Xenos would easily be tricked by the Master’s games and offers to appease to their core values; debauchery and corruption, the Krieg would see through such attempts.”
At this point, Amelia approached Constantine in a totally different light. He wanted to know what the Emperor would think, what his reaction would be to the countless battles they had fought in his name.
“It would be wrong of me, to say what the Emperor would think. However, knowing him as I did he would smile upon you. You have lived and died in his name for thousands of years.. The ultimate gift to the Emperor, without question. You honor him. You and your brothers.” She said simply.
<3>
KingFalthosHellbore : – Constantine stood for a long period of time in silence, whilst the guns thundered and roared in the background, the dull hum of such power, was only a whisper to his ears. Her words, struck in him a soft point, perhaps the only soft point he ever had known. Though he never saw the Emperor in person, but perhaps in dreams, in thoughts and in prayers, he had longed to fight by his side. To show him, that the 901st had been worthy enough to fight by him, that they, in the end times, would stand with him, and loyally battle the forces of Chaos that sought to consume all known existence. He looked up, and the years seemed to not look so kind upon him. He said, in a voice that was more menacing then when he would shout. He spoke, his voice calm, almost father-like.
“We have Endured. For ten-thousand years, besieged on all sides, from within and outside the Imperium. From Heretics to Xenos, to the Daemons of the Warp. The Imperium of Mankind has endured. From the men I have led, to the lives I have taken. I am reminded of exactly why we fight, and what we fight for…Amelia. My men and I will stand by your side, not for your sake…But for the Emperor. I have faith, that were he here now, He would think of the lives of many, over the selfishness of the few…” he paused a moment, clenching his jaw a few times, almost as if collecting his thoughts. “We will. Take this world. Peacefully, or Forcibly. But we will give it a brighter future, than to fall to the darkness we endured, millenia ago. We will give it a fighting chance, to be a candle light in the darkness, to make way for a future, that the Emperor gave his own life to achieve. We will march to the very end, and achieve the dream the Emperor forsaw. A United Galaxy, Free of the corruption of Chaos and of the Barbaric Xenos.. And I promise, by my hands, and my successors…We will keep, these people safe, from the dangers, Within, And Without…” he would turn his back to her, moving to seal his mask over his face once more, the very same grinning skull visage he wore to battle countless times before. His voice, amplified through the vox-speaker of such a mask, roared into life with his next words.
“Stand down! Reconsolidate within the Command Bunker!” The fog that had surrounded them, came to move way to the massed bodies that all held their las-rifles at the stranger. Hundreds of Kriegers, their very skulled masks glinting in the light with a dull hue that could have only come from fighting as hard as they did. The dark lenses that made for their eyes, peered like that of statues towards the figure, only at the command of the General, did they move to stand down, becoming at ease before shuffling back into the fog of war. Constantine had marched no further, than six feet before he said “If we are to make war with the Emperor’s enemies, You might want to tell our neighbors that they should likewise, understand the importance of this cause. Otherwise, We may very well repay our blood debt earlier than anticipated.”
<E>
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CharlotteCarrendar:- From a field on which many a dead man lay with the pounding sounds of artillery and rocket fire, there stood two souls. Both had seen and lived many a life though really it was just one. Amelia could understand without a doubt that the Commander spoke with honest truth to what he had endured and seen over the many years, no..the ten thousand years that the Imperium of Man had fought and won. All in the Emperor’s name. The strong held belief that they paid their blood oath on the rise and fall of ever sun. They did so without regret or ounce of thought for self. It was actually quite profound to hear the Commander speak so openly. Had this been a different time a different place.
She watched him with a touch of melancholy as he turned away and replaced what was his own scarred face with that of the grinning skull mask. All trace of humanity vanishing within the blink of an eye. That was the face his foe would see before they took their last breathe. To be haunted till reaching their maker or cast into the void from which they came.
The Captain had achieved a small win for now. The Imperium would fight along side her when it came to the threat of the Master and the rift in time. Now she had a bigger job ahead. Informing those that were bunkered down in the city and foothills of Lorewall. No doubt they would be harder to talk to. She knew that Xenos existed beyond the trenches, and she also knew that they would be reluctant to just lay down arms after all they had lost so far. Tugging at her hat, which had fallen back slightly due to the gusts of wind and debris that swirled in from the north, she heard the parting words of the Commander as he returned to his post.
“If we are to make war with the Emperor’s enemies, You might want to tell our neighbors that they should likewise, understand the importance of this cause. Otherwise, We may very well repay our blood debt earlier than anticipated.”
“Understood, Constantine. I only hope they are wise in counsel as you have been. In the Emperor’s name.”
She had respect now for him, and for his cause. Hearing the loud whir of her TARDIS as it flew overhead, she reached up and caught the lower rungs of the rope ladder that had been lowered. With a bounce of step she lifted off the ground, and started her climb back up to the massive air ship with large Chinese like sails. On reaching the sides, she swung a leg over and her steam powered droids brought up the rope ladder from below. Taking a deep breath, she put in the order.
“Lorewall…..here we come.”
<3>
![DESEEM2 [Skull Badge]](http://userimages01.imvu.com/userdata/20990461/badge_1f266856edb3e3f2d975513d8ce04479.gif "DESEEM2 [Skull Badge]"){kind=icon}
